Girlfriend says I need to get circumcised

Dear Pastor,

I am a 20-year-old man and I have a girlfriend who is 21. I love her but she is very fat.

Some of my friends tease me all the time and ask me if I am not afraid that my girlfriend will sit on me and kill me. My mother is very fat and my father is very slim and they don't seem to have a problem.

The problem I am having is with my penis. I was not circumcised. My girlfriend and I tried to have sex and it was painful on my part. It was the first time I was having sex. When I tried to pull back my foreskin it was painful, so I stopped. My girlfriend told me that I should go to the doctor and ask to be circumcised. I was embarrassed. I did not know that because I am not circumcised, I would have a problem having sex.

My girlfriend is not a virgin. She had two different boyfriends and she is accustomed to having sex. This was my first try. Do you think I am too old to be circumcised? Do you know how much that will cost?

Thank you, Pastor, for reading my letter.

P.T.

Dear P.T.,

Your girlfriend has given you good advice. You should indeed discuss your problem with your family doctor. Generally, when a male child is born, the doctor would ask the mother whether they wish to have the child circumcised. Many years ago, circumcision was not emphasised, and it was the nannies who had the responsibility of delivering the babies.

Men who have difficulty with tight foreskin should massage the penis as often as they can with a vitamin cream; that will help them to pull back the foreskin. Circumcision is a very simple operation and it will not cause a man to have less effect during sex. Men who are not circumcised should be very careful to clean their penis, because the inner skin of the penis should always be washed away. If that is not done, it can cause infection.

Pastor